South Whidbey Record, June 19, 2013

June 19, 2013 edition of the South Whidbey Record

INSIDE:
Caps off ...
Island Life,
A10
RECORD
SOUTH WHIDBEY
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, 2013 | Vol. 89, No. 49 | WWW.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.COM | 75¢
‘Classy’ Class of 2013 goes forth from South Whidbey
By BEN WATANABE
Staff reporter
The 118 graduates from South Whidbey High School
could be identified by all the things they weren’t.
The class of 2013 wasn’t the return to the state championship class. It wasn’t the class that killed the senior parade
through Langley. It wasn’t the class that had prom off the
island.
It was the classy class, at least in the faculty choice student speaker’s opinion. The class of 2013 was also the year
of leaders.
“We’re the classy class,” said Kyle Simchuk, the school’s
ASB president.
“We’re the problem solvers, or we’re going to be the
problem solvers.”
Plenty of problems await the Falcon graduates. College
courses lay ahead for many of them, trade schools for others. Some of them will take trips to Europe, Africa or South
America, uncertain when they’ll return to the states. For
those students that venture overseas, one of the school’s
two valedictorians had advice for any would-be globetrotters.
“Don’t use ‘YOLO’ (you only live once), an uneducated
version of carpe diem for those not in the loop, as a reason
to get a tattoo from a street vendor in Tijuana,” said Kellen
Field, who graduated with a 4.0 grade point average.
Graduation was a smooth ceremony, other than a rocky,
emotional beginning for the school’s principal, John Patton.
In the auxiliary gym, a waiting and staging room for the
graduates, Patton lined them up in order along the perimeter of the court. He told them it was time and to remember
their cues. Fighting his emotions, he put the megaphone
down and uttered, “I hate this part.”
The students rallied around their faculty leader. One
yelled, “We love you, Patton.”
Encouraged, he responded in kind. “I love you guys.”
Once in the main gym packed with family, friends and
other supporters, Patton turned to humor in his address
to the graduates. Turning into a financial advisor, he cautioned against writing checks because they don’t manifest
money if there’s none in the account and signing up for a
credit card just because it comes with a free T-shirt.
“You’ve passed the HSPE, EOCs, SAT and ACT,” he said.
Ben Watanabe / The Record
German exchange student Lisa Haufler, Merissa Dahlman, Serafina Durr, Sarah Swanberg and R.J. Barker erupt
with laughter before their graduation ceremony begins June 15 at South Whidbey High School.
“But can you cook rice without it sticking to the pan?”
“When you’re on the mainland, also called the United
States, that latch on the door is called a lock. Lock your
doors.”
A few student performances punctuated the ceremony,
first from the school’s jazz band, featuring five seniors in
their caps and gowns. Josh Bishop performed “Climb”
alone on guitar and vocals. Later, Bishop returned with
the help of the jazz band seniors Connor McCauley, Zoe
Hensler, Lucy Rock and Sylvie Kaul-Anderson, as well as
Sam Turpin and Anna Hood and performed “93 Million
Miles.” Its refrain echoed the common sentiment throughout the commencement that South Whidbey is their home,
“No matter where you go, you can always come back
home,” sang Turpin.
The senior class president parroted that notion at the
end of the ceremony.
“This will always be the place we call home,” said
Elliauna Madsen.
Student choice speaker Lennox Bishop thanked her
peers for being themselves and allowing her to be herself.
Simchuk told his classmates to remind themselves that
many have had similar scholastic experiences until this
point. He asked the graduates who have been enrolled in
South Whidbey schools since kindergarten to stand. Most
of them stood.
SEE GRADUATES, A10
Prosecutor, judges continue fire at Recovery Services
By JUSTIN BURNETT
Staff reporter
Another error by Island County
Recovery Services that nearly led to
the unjust incarceration of a patient
and the recent revelation that the
treatment center was under review
by state regulators for months
spurred decisive action by law and
justice leaders.
On Monday, Island County
Prosecutor Greg Banks, in cooperation with Superior Court Judges
Alan Hancock and Vickie Churchill,
announced the immediate cessation
of new defendants to the county’s
drug courts.
“The latest incident and my
knowledge of the (state) reports
have pushed me one step closer to
terminating the programs,” wrote
Banks in an email to the Island
County Board of Commissioners.
“I am convinced that we are failing the public and our drug court
participants by allowing them into
our program with this treatment
provider.”
Under the umbrella of Island
County Human Services, the drug
and alcohol recovery center opened
its doors in July 2011. It offers outpatient services and partners as the
treatment provider for the county’s
adult and juvenile drug courts.
Human Services Director Jackie
Henderson, who is also a Coupeville
Town Council member, could not
be reached for comment for this
story but she defended the organization and its staff during the board’s
Wednesday work session.
She, along with Island County
Recovery Services Manager Mark
MacNaughton, cited a lack of
resources — funding and staff — as
the primary source of the treatment
center’s shortcomings.
In an unusual and bold move,
Henderson also announced she will
not seek proposals from alternate
and private treatment providers,
even if directed to do so by the commissioners — her bosses.
When asked by Commissioner
Helen Price Johnson to clarify that
position, Henderson responded,
“With all due respect, that means I
won’t do it.”
Last month, drug court leaders
made the equally unusual move of
publicly charging the treatment
center with a slew of allegations
before the board. Citing issues from
sexual misconduct and the use of
abusive language to repeated errors
and tardy patient assessments, the
group requested the board immediately begin looking for alternate
service providers.
Perhaps the most serious claims
concerned instances when drug
court patients were nearly sentenced to undeserved jail time based
on incorrect information provided
by recovery services professionals.
According to Banks, a similar
SEE RECOVERY, A6
ou
ou
th
ac
th
lit
sc
kn
h
w
er
ta
pa
kn
a
ye
th
on